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Welcome to this weeks Author Spotlight Saturday! This week we have Carmel Harrington, the author of recently released The
Life You Left. Keep an eye out for my review coming very soon. I will
say this much, it had me in tears and laughter! A great novel. Welcome
Carmel to Genuine Jenn!

Tell us a little bit about your
book(s) and yourself.

Hell Jennifer, thanks for having me
on your blog!I’m
from Ireland and I live in a beautiful coastal village, in the South East of
Ireland, with my husband Roger and two children Amelia (4) and Nate (2).

Life is busy, as I wear several hats
every day - Stay-at-home mum, Wife,Author, Freelance Writer!But it’s
never boring and there is a lot of laughter in our home.

I love exploring themes of love,
loss, hope and strength in my novels, always with both laughter and tears sprinkled
throughout.

My first novel Beyond Grace’s
Rainbow won several international awards, including Romantic eBook of Year 2013
and Kindle Book of Year 2013!The Life
You Left was published as an eBook on 19th June and follows in paperback on 3rd
July and I am giddy with excitement about it all!

When was your first book published?

My first book Beyond Grace’s
Rainbow was initially self published August 2012, but republished by Harper
Collins September 2013.

Are you currently working on
anything?

Yes, I’m
working a sequel to Beyond Grace’s Rainbow, but with the focus this
time on Abby, Tom and Gerry, who are Grace’s friends.It’s lovely getting back to the old
gang.

Why did you decide to become an
Author?

Jennifer, I’ve
always wanted to write, ever since I was a young girl in our local
library.I used to look at all the
bookshelves and imagine what it would be like to see one of my books nestled
amongst them.That ambition stayed with
me throughout my childhood and adulthood, but it took till I turned 40 to find
the nerve to do something about it!

Who and what inspired you to write?

I get inspiration from my husband
Roger and children Amelia and Nate and stepdaughter Eva, all the time.

When you are writing to you like to
listen to music? What is on your playlist?

Oh great question!Actually I tend to write in silence, but at
certain parts in my stories, I often look to music for inspiration.‘She’by
Elvis Costello inspired me for several chapters in The Life You Left and gets a
mention in the book in fact.

Who is your favorite character in
your books?

I really can’t
pick Jennifer, I love nearly all of them! In fact, even the baddies I’ve
written in The Life You Left, I kind of love to hate them if you know what I
mean!I think I will always have a soft
spot for Grace though, from Beyond Grace’s Rainbow, because her character was
the very first one I wrote.

Do you ever take characteristics or
nuances from close friends or family when working on character development and
if so has that friend or family member noticed and what was their response to
it?

I’ve
had both friends and strangers contact me and say, ‘thats
me!’or ‘that happened to me!’but
honestly, all are from my imagination.

What is your favorite book of all
time?

I hate getting asked this question,
because I always seem to have a different answer, because I have so many
favourites!Today, I’m
saying ‘Wuthering Heights.’

Tell us in one sentence why we should
read your books.

Because reading my books will make my
small children happy and you want to see them smile don’t
you?

Ok, only joking!How about this? ‘I’ve
been told that I can make the reader both laugh and cry at the turn of a page,
I’d love to try to do that with you!’